Investigating robbery crimes
Investigating robbery crimes
Obtain permission
Once the security personnel learn that a robbery crime has taken place at a particular place, they should not just rush at once at the scene of crime. It is very important for them to first obtain a warrant, which legally permits them to enter into the crime scene and carryout their investigations. Without a warrant, the security personnel conducting the investigations might investigate the crime very comprehensively and obtain credible solid evidence about the robbery, but eventually have their investigations rendered null and void and thus cannot be used in a court of law to prove that a certain robbery took place. There are however some exceptions when the investigators are allowed to carryout their investigations without having obtained a warrant. If it is not practically possible for the investigators to obtain a warrant within reasonable time, to facilitate their investigations, the investigators can go ahead with the investigations. However, they will have to first prove in a court of law that it was not possible for them to obtain a warrant within reasonable time. In such circumstances, the court can either rule in favor or against the grounds cited by the investigators for failing to obtain a warrant. If the court rules against such grounds, the investigators cannot use the gathered evidence in the case before the court of law. But if the court is satisfied that it was actually not possible for the investigators to obtain a warrant, the investigators are allowed to use their evidence in the robbery crime before the court of law (Becker, 2004).
It is very crucial for the investigators to arrive as soon as possible at the scene of crime so that they can find it intact having not been interfered with by anyone after the crime has taken place. It is relatively easy for the investigators to collect evidence from such a crime scene as opposed to one where several activities have occurred after the robbery was committed. The evidence collected from such a crime is usually highly credible and effective. Application of such evidence the proceedings of a robbery crime that is before a court of law leads to very sound judgments to be made by the court and thus justice to prevail as much as possible. On the other hand, if the investigators delay in arriving at the scene of crime, they end up obtaining inaccurate evidence which they use before a court of law and might finally mislead the court while making its judgments (Desroches, 2002).
Immediately the investigators arrive at the robbery scene, they should secure the entire place using evidence tape. This is mainly aimed at keeping off all irrelevant people from the scene of crime who do not add any value to the investigations being carried out. The general public is usually very eager to know what is happening at a scene where robbery has taken place. However, they have no business at such scenes and in most cases they end up interfering with the crucial evidence at the scene of crime thereby diluting the investigations being carried out. By sealing off such a place ensures that only the necessary people are allowed to access it and hence investigations can be carried out with less or no interference. The investigators should in fact be extra careful while sealing off such a place and keeping away intruders since some criminals can intentionally gain entry to such scenes with an aim of interfering with the evidence being collected making it to be less effective and increase its inaccuracy (Eck, 1983).
Collect evidence
All the investigators at the scene of robbery crime should ensure that they wear gloves while collecting their evidence. The wearing of gloves is very essential for the investigators to ensure that the intact evidence remains in that state and that the finger prints of the investigators or other personnel who were not involved in committing the robbery do not interfere with the evidence. Therefore, when such evidence is taken for further investigations in order to determine the people who were involved together with the probable weapons they might have used, the level of accuracy can be relatively high since there will be no interference on the part of the investigators while collecting such evidence (Desroches, 2002).
With their hands well covered with gloves, the investigators should then collect all evidence they deem necessary for the crime in question. All the collected evidence should be properly packaged in order to ensure that it remains in the state in which it was collected. In order for the investigators to be in a position of accounting for all the evidence they have collected from the scene of robbery crime, they have to ensure that each and every piece of evidence is well documented. Documenting of all the evidence collected by the investigators eases the work of the investigators when they are analyzing it as well as when they are preparing their defense in a court of law when the case of robbery under investigations is before the court of law. Furthermore, the well documented evidence makes it possible for the investigators to deal with the case of robbery crime in a comprehensive manner having left no single piece of evidence that would have assisted in the investigations untouched (Gardner, 2004).
Before leaving the scene of robbery crime, the investigators must ensure that they have collected all the necessary evidence which they might require in solidifying their defense before the court of law when the time comes. Moreover, they need the same evidence in the analysis stage so that they can actually determine that the evidence collected actually corresponds with the suspects they apprehend and propose to be prosecuted in a court of law for the robbery crime they have investigated. They should also ensure that all the evidence they have collected is not tainted in anyway because evidence that is tainted in one way or another is capable of wrecking a case which was otherwise solid in a court of law. This is usually one of the greatest blows the work of the investigators can face and they should therefore ensure as much as possible that not even a single piece of their evidence is tainted (Becker, 2004).
The warrant for permitting investigators to enter into a scene crime is usually issued once. The investigators must therefore ensure that they carryout their investigations very well paying attention to each and every detail since they will not have such a chance again. They should also ensure that they collect and document all the necessary evidence before leaving the crime scene because they cannot be allowed to re-enter such a scene once they have left in order to recollect more evidence concerning the robbery. The leader of the investigating team must therefore enquire from his members whether they have collected all the necessary information and evidence that will be required in processing and analyzing the evidence further, for presentation in a court of law (Becker, 2004).
Ask questions and take notes
The investigators should ensure that they take all the necessary notes they deem fit for their investigations in a chronological order. Due to the fact that the investigators do not usually have a lot of time to spend in a scene of robbery crime, they should take notes in a simple manner and probably using short hand, but they should always ensure that they can easily refer to such notes later without any difficulties. The notes should however be very detailed and they should not omit any relevant and material information that is likely to have an impact on the investigations. All such notes that have been taken by the investigators should be well taken care of to avoid instances of their losses or modifications (Bennett Hess, 2006).
In virtually all cases of robbery, there are eye witnesses who may include victims of the robbery or just passersby who happened to witness either the entire robbery incidence or part of it. Such individuals are a very crucial source of primary information concerning the robbery incidence. It is the duty of the investigators to identify such people and ask them a few questions that might be essential in shedding some light to what exactly happened when the crime occurred. By interviewing such people, it becomes relatively easier for the investigators to determine the exact sequence of all the events that took place when the crime was taking place. This is however only possible if the investigators ask the right questions to the right people and in the right manner (Desroches, 2002).
The investigators can at this point, call upon some of the people they have interviewed to appear as witnesses in a court of law when all the investigations concerning the crime will eventually be over and the matter will have proceeded to a court of law. In this case, the investigators should only pick on a few individuals who it deems to posses the most accurate information concerning the incident. The investigators should ensure that such people provide to the court only what they saw in order to avoid incidences of contradictory statements which might auger badly to all the investigations that have been carried out (Becker, 2004).
In some cases it might be necessary for the investigators to take some pictures of the crime scene if they have reasonable belief that such pictures will constitute a useful piece of evidence for their investigations. Pictures taken from crime scenes usually offer credible evidence concerning a certain crime. They are also preferred since they can be easily documented therefore provide the exact state of the crime scene for a long period of time. When used in a court of law, they make the work of the investigators quite easy. This is because it is normally easy for the investigators to demonstrate to the court of law the exact events that took place. As a result, the court might take relatively shorter period of time to determine a case as opposed to when all the evidence is presented in a complicated manner making the investigators to consume a lot of time in giving their explanations (Bennett Hess, 2006).
After the investigators have gathered all the necessary evidence and information concerning a robbery crime, they should remove the evidence tape from the crime scene signifying that the public is no longer barred from entering the scene. The investigators should then go away from the scene carrying with them all the evidence they have gathered from the crime scene for further processing. The gathered evidence should be taken through all the necessary procedures and departments to ensure that it is well processed and accurate information obtained from them in an objective manner. It is only well collected and analyzed evidence that can be used effectively in a court of law to bring about justice in the determination of robbery crimes which are very serious as they affect millions of people every year (Gardner, 2004).
Conclusion
Investigating of robbery incidences is a very sensitive task that should be carried out with a lot of care since it has a lot of weight in a court of law in the determination of whether a suspect is guilty or innocent for the crimes they are charged with. It is against this background that all the investigations should be carried out very carefully and all the procedures must be followed. By doing so, the investigators minimizes incidents of presenting inaccurate evidence and information before a court of law and hence make the court to make a wrong ruling that brings about injustice in one way or another. Robbery crimes are usually very violent and they usually involve the application of intimidation, force or both on the victim. Such victims might be traumatized at the time the investigators are taking their evidence and thus give inaccurate information. The investigators should therefore be very careful when taking evidence from traumatized victims in order to reduce incidences of inaccurate information and evidence.
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